West Midlands plumber has been jailed for 12 months for evading £91,000 of income tax and national insurance during 10 years of trading as a self-employed plumber. Nine more plumbers have been arrested and investigations are ongoing.

HMRC targeted plumbers in a special campaign in 2011. Other such disclosure campaigns have focused on offshore investments, medical professionals, private tutors and coaches, companies not paying VAT, electricians and online marketplace traders.

More than £500m has been raised from these campaigns and more than £110m from follow-up activity by HMRC.

HMRC have stated that those who make a full disclosure:

will be offered a simple and straightforward way to put their tax affairs right
may not be charged a penalty at all, with most receiving a penalty of no more than 10 per cent of tax owed.

Stuart Coleman, Manager of the Tax Department of ABDS says:

“Once disclosure opportunities close, taxpayers who have not come forward but are found to have unpaid tax liabilities will face higher penalties, rising to 100 per cent of the tax unpaid or, potentially, criminal prosecution.”

If you have any questions about VAT or other Tax payments, contact Lavinia Newman, Stuart Coleman or Tonmoy Kumar to discuss how ABDS can help.

ABDS Chartered Certified Accountants of Southampton.
Tel: 023 8083 6900 E-mail: abds@netaccountants.net

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